I have an external hard drive mounted at /root/storage - OK
I moved the data directory from /var/lib/cassandra/ to /root/storage - OK
I then created a symbolic link out of /var/lib/cassandra pointing to where the directory is now.....so...... ln -s /root/storage/data /var/lib/cassandra - OK

Now I am unable to start cassandra. I am getting this error in /var/log/cassandra/system.log:

Shouldn't the symbolic link be to the /root/storage directory instead of the /root/storage/data directory?
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Rich SuttonFeb 15 '13 at 23:11

I don't believe so. I moved data directory itself out of /var/lib/cassandra and onto /root/storage/. I believe the symbolic link will be ln -s /root/storage/data /var/lib/cassandra
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Douglas SmithFeb 18 '13 at 13:24

Changed the data_file_directories parameter in my cassandra.yaml file and am still getting the same error in both system.log and cassandra.log, refer to the output below.
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Douglas SmithFeb 18 '13 at 13:04